Celebrating a Miracle

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY TAYLEE

On Sunday March 28, we get to celebrate our Miracle. Taylee!! She turns 4!! We cannot believe how the time has gone and that she is a very happy and healthy 4 year old!! She had a hard beginning but has made it through.

We were blessed with a set of beautiful twin girls. When I was at 20 weeks the twins were diagnosed with Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). This is a syndrome where two babies share one placenta and the blood vessels are distributed so that one baby receives more blood supply and nutrition than the other baby. One baby is usually quite a bit bigger than the other. There is no cure for this syndrome and there isn't a lot that they know about it because every pregnancy and case can be very different. The chances for survival of both are very low and the risk of complications is very high. I immediately went on bed rest and we traveled to Ogden to the Neonatal Specialists weekly for appointments and ultrasounds. I underwent two amniocentesis procedures (where they take fluid out of one of baby's sacks). Taylee was the bigger baby and was very active, Darcee was smaller and she did not move that much at all.

At my 28 week mark, the twins were delivered unexpectedly by emergency C-Section because Darcee was not doing well. She barely had a heart beat. At 9:04 a.m. Darcee and Taylee came into the World. Darcee weighing in at 1 lb. 5oz and 12 inches long, Taylee was 1 lb 10oz and 12 1/4 inches long. Our sweet angel Darcee did not survive. Taylee was immediately put into the NICU. Taylee was flown that evening to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. This became her new home for the next 3 months. She was such fighter and endured several bumps in the road. We are so blessed to have Taylee in our lives and we thank our Heavenly Father everyday for the numerous blessings and the chance to have Taylee and Darcee in our family.
Darcee fought hard and long to grow and thrive and she saved her sister. We love you sweet girl!

We brought Taylee home from the hospital 3 months after she was born and she weighed about 4 1b 15 oz. Now after all the struggles to get them here, Taylee is such a joy in our home.

We love you Taylee! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Taylee in the NICU at the U of U.

Our first time holding Taylee

Our sweet 4 year old!!

Birthday Week

On February 22nd Cody and I went to the Jazz game in SLC. They played the Atlanta Hawks. We had a lot of fun on our outing together. Grandpa and Grandma Panter were so nice to let Taylee have a sleep over. We went Shopping and out out dinner and then to the Game. It was a good game......but the Jazz couldn't pull off the win sadly.....

This past weekend was "Birthday" weekend. I turned "25" on Friday! Wow.....I had a great day and my husband spoiled me! My mom's birthday was on Saturday, so we made the trip down to Thatcher for the weekend to celebrate! We had a great weekend. My sister Tiff and her husband came down and we had a sleigh riding party on Saturday. It was so much fun! The weather was perfect and the snow was awesome! We had so much fun taking the kids down on the sleds and we enjoyed watching my Mom having fun riding the sleds as well. We rode around on Dad's snow machine......which was an absolute blast. We enjoyed cake and ice cream and great food!! It was a great Birthday Weekend!! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us come and stay!!!

My sexy husband on my Dad's Awesome snow machine......Taylee and Me going down the hill.


Grandma sleigh riding with Taylee. Mom was a machine on the sled....she was fast!

Cody crashing on the sled. Taylee and Conner (Tiff's little boy)

Conner LOVED the icing!!!

First Interview

Yesterday, Cody got a response from the University of Louisville! He has been selected to interview with them next Friday! He is really excited because they are the #1 ranked school for his program. I cannot believe how fast time has gone and that we are at this stage of waiting to hear from Grad Schools. Lets just hope and pray that some really good things start to come our way!

Vegas Vacation

We just got back from a great vacation to Las Vegas. We planned a fun getaway for the three of us to go and have some fun. Taylee was able to fly for the first time and she loved it! It was so funny after we went through security and we were putting our shoes back on and getting our stuff together and I was putting Taylee's shoes on and she just looked at me and then at the security station and then back at me and said, "Oh my gosh". It was hilarious. It was like she was saying, "What just happened?" Cody and I got a really good laugh. She wasn't to sure about the take off at first she had a pretty intense face and said "mom, I am scared. Lets go home." but then she was fine once we got up in the air. She really loved the pop and the pretzels during the flight. It was so much fun to see her reactions to everything!

We flew out from Salt Lake on Saturday night. It was fun to see the lights of Vegas from the sky. After we landed we went and got our rental car, a White Pontiac Vibe, and then we went to our hotel. That night we stayed at the Stratosphere. We were able to go to the top and look out over the city. On Sunday we went to the Premium Outlet Mall and did some shopping and then drove to the Las Vegas Temple and we walked around the temple. It is such a beautiful Temple! Taylee loved it. We then checked into our next hotel, The Luxor. We stayed there the remainder of our trip. On Monday and Tuesday we spent the days shopping and walking The Strip. We stopped to see the water show at the Bellagio and the Volcano show at the Mirage. We also got tickets to the "Bodies Exhibition" the "Titanic Exhibition" and "The Mandalay Bay Shark Reef". The weather was so nice except for Wednesday is was pouring rain and it was cold but thank goodness we were flying out that morning!

This was mine and Cody's third trip to Vegas and we thought it was time to take Taylee there. She really enjoyed herself. She was so mad at us went we got home. She didn't want to come home she said, "I want to go to the hotel!" She through the biggest temper tantrum and wouldn't get out of the car. It was kind of funny to see her get so mad about being home. It was a pretty relaxing trip. We slept in, took naps, and came and went as we pleased. The best part of it all was that we were TOGETHER! Now to planning our next family Vaca! I think a cruise is next in line :)

New Year Means New Beginnings

This year is going have a lot of new adventures in store for us. Hopefully these changes will be all for the better! Cody had finished his undergraduate and is now focusing on getting all his applications finished for grad school. He has been a busy little bee getting all his letters of intent done and getting everything all organized and ready to send off to the colleges. Who knows where we may be this Fall.......here or somewhere very very far away. I guess only time will tell and we shall see......

Taylee has some new beginnings for herself as well. She is now officially in Primary! What a cute little Sunbeam she makes. She did so well her first Sunday! She didn't cry or whine or anything. I was really proud of her and she absolutely loved it!! She will also be old enough to start Pre-School this fall. HOLY COW!!!! I cannot believe that she has reached that stage already and that I will have a pre-schooler! Cody and I are trying to decide whether we should sign her up to play T-ball or Soccer this Spring/Summer. I am not sure if she is quite ready for that yet but I think that it might be good for her. Maybe break her out of her shell a little. She is so shy. Besides it would be fun to see her experience this next part of childhood!

As for me my new beginning is.......diet and exercise....this will be interesting. I am not sure exactly how well this is going to go but I have got to give it a go. With how busy life gets you would think that I wouldn't have time to gain weight.HA!! It seems the busier I am that more weight seems to follow me around. So I will need some support on this undertaking. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish my goal. Wish me luck.....because I am going to need it!

This is an exciting time to live. Not only have we lived through the beginning of a new Century but now we are onto starting a new decade.I hope that this year is full of happiness and good health for our family as well as yours!

Christmas at Grandmas

We went to Thatcher and spent the last two weekends with Grandma and Grandpa Panter. We had such a great time. We ate lots of yummy food, had great conversation, went sleigh riding, rode the 4-wheelers, got to hang out with all the bros and sister, and just had a great time! We love it when we get to go home to Thatcher!

Meet the Sparrows

Hello Everyone! We have now officially introduced ourselves into this whole new world of "blogging". It has been a fun and exciting new discovery. To introduce our little family of 3. Cody and I have been married for 5 years. We just celebrated that milestone on December 18. It has been a wonderful 5 years and we are looking forward to the many ahead of us. We have a beautiful daughter, Taylee who is 3. She will be turning 4 in March. We cannot believe how much she has grown and seems to be growing way to fast. I cannot believe how time flies. We are living in Pocatello. Cody graduated this month with his Bachelors of Art in Sports Mangagement and a minor in Coaching. We are so proud of him!!!! Now our next step is filling out applications to schools for his Masters so he can start that new adventure this coming fall. We are excited to start that next chapter in our lives. Our lives pretty much revolve around Taylee. She is our whole world. She keeps us so busy. She loves all the girly things and it is so much fun to watch her play....What an imagination she has?! She is such a daddy's girl and is following his footsteps when it comes to sports. She does an excellent "Set....hut"! She loves nursery and she loves the temples. She loves to sing "I am a Child of God" and "I Love to See the Temple" and several songs that creative Aunt Heidi taught her. Cody LOVES sports! He really loves football and he is one of the biggest fans of the Dallas Cowboys! He loves being a dad and he is a very good daddy. I love being a mom and enjoy the challenges that come along with it. It definelty has been an adventure and I am learning new things everyday. We are excited to be able to share the highlights and news with all of you! Enjoy! Happy Holidays and wish you a Happy New Year!